I Smoked 2 Ciggerettes and Had 2 Beers 9 Days After Surgery. Am I in Trouble?

You can cause damage to your incompletely-healed tummy skin or umbilicus with even 1 cigarette or even inhaling second-hand smoke! If the skin didn't die you were just plain lucky, because this can happen even in patients who use NO tobacco or nicotine products, though it is rare. In a smoker (yes, even 1 cigarette), the risk of skin death rises to as high as 15-20%. Not an exaggeration!

Just because you drove fast without a seat belt and didn't kill yourself doesn't make it right. And it certainly isn't very smart. So, with all due respect, disregarding your surgeon's advice and smoking and drinking IS just plain stupid. Did someone else pay for your operation? Because if you did so yourself, this is taking an unnecessary chance of ruining your results and wasting your investment in yourself, when there are plenty enough reasons OUTSIDE your and your surgeon's control for problems or complications to occur. Why increase those risks?

Disrespectful is what this is to your surgeon, who came to your operation fully trained, prepared, and exerted all his or her efforts to give you the best result possible. Then you disregard advice and recommendations and go on-line and hope for absolution?

Sorry, but there are already too many patients who expect their doctor to be "perfect" but complain about how much good medical or surgical care costs, and then don't even care enough to follow directions.

To those who feel I'm being too harsh, I apologize. But patients who intentionally disregard good advice deserve no sympathy!   The attitude that "It's my money and my body" becomes meaningless when the patient's dead skin needs surgical debridement, dressings, and reconstructive surgery, and the patient then needs someone to "fix it." Usually for free, and usually with the statement that "I wasn't told that--if I had known it would be so serious, then I wouldn't have smoked and drank!"

Please use this as a learning experience and hope and pray you don't develop dead skin, dead belly button, or wound breakdown. And let your surgeon know so further advice can be given. Good luck.

Hello! Thank you for your question! The issue with nicotine is that it
also acts as a vasoconstrictor, clamping down of blood vessels. Blood
supply is always of great concern during any surgical procedure, but
especially in such a procedure as a breast augmentation where the viability of the
skin/tissue, and nipple-areolar complex is obviously important. Since the vascularity to
the area is already tenuous since it will be raised by cutting around
the area, maximizing blood flow to the tissue is critical. Typically,

we recommend at least 6 weeks of smoking cessation prior to and at
least 6 weeks after any surgical procedure. The longer, the better.
Nicotine always increases the risk for infection, nipple necrosis, poor
scarring, and
wound complications, as well as other health consequences including blood clots. The
anesthesia risk is greater with general anesthesia as well as pulmonary
issues/lung infections postoperatively. I would
discuss this with your surgeon prior to your procedure. Hope that this
helps! Best wishes!

Thank you for the unusual question.

No I do not think you have caused any harm with 2 cigarettes and a few beers. However, I would suggest you abstain from nicotine products for at least another month (preferably forever). I would suggest compliance with your plastic surgeon's  recommendations in general.

I hope this helps.